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Category Archive for "Stream Fencing&quot

Two events were held in the Shenandoah Valley for Chesapeake Bay Awareness Week. One on David Surratt's farm in Fishersville, VA and another on Jeanne Hoffman's farm in Swoope. Both venues are in the Middle River watershed. Surratt Farm Event Mr. Surratt and his family excluded their cattle from five...

Virginia Wildlife magazine published my article "Poague Run: Restoring Trout, Restoring Hope" in the 2016 March/April edition. It's the story about the people that restored a 3,000-acre watershed. More information about Virginia’s premier wildlife magazine and to subscribe, check them out at www.dgif.virginia.gov/virginia-wildlife. It's happening. Throughout the 64,000 square miles...

Livestock Drinking Dirty Water is Not Good For Herd Health Humans don’t drink dirty water and neither should your livestock. Aristotle recognized the value of boiling water and burying feces to prevent disease back in 350BC. We’ve been learning ever since. Just as with human health, herd health improves with...

Middle River flows through our land. Brook Trout, Virginia's state fish, used to thrive in it. They migrated or died long ago, environmental refugees from the sediment-laden waters of the river. The river is slowly being restored and one day, we will re-introduce this native fish to the waters that flow...

The environmental world got a boost last week when the Vatican released the Pope's Encyclical on climate change. So now we have science and religion on the same side; no big-bang theory v. evolution on this issue. Who can deny climate change now? Here's a link to a youtube trailer...

Virginia Wildlife Magazine published my article "Fish Need Leaves" in their Jan/Feb 2015 issue. More information about Virginia's premier wildlife magazine can be found here: www.dgif.virginia.gov/virginia.wildlife Excluding livestock from streams is a first big step for agriculture in restoring water resources and complying with the law that the US Congress passed...

This is an OPED piece I wrote for the Bay Journal News Service which was published on 8/19/2014. I have added photos and links. Here's a link to the Downstream Project's Amy Matthews Amos blog about it. Surviving a heart attack is a huge wake-up call that usually warrants a...

I love the smell of hay…and putting it away for the winter. It’s a good feeling; knowing all the winter feed for the cows is ready. Jeanne is now in the throws of bush hogging the pastures with her new fifteen foot wide “bat-wing” mower. We mow the pastures to...

I watched the children carry their jars with native Brook Trout fingerlings to the edge of Poague Run. They carefully stepped close to the water and tipped the jars over releasing the fish into the stream. This simple act is a conservationist's "Mount Everest". Together, we climbed the mountain....